The creation of the woolly mammoth will now be debated in an amendment that gives God credit for creating the prehistoric animal, Reuters reported.
An 8-year-old South Carolina girl's dream of having the Columbian Mammoth be designated as the official state fossil has since been stalled.
After a recent bill was passed in the state House, it has been halted at the Senate after two verses from the book of Genesis were added by Republican Senator Kevin Bryant.
According to Reuters, even though the amendment was ruled out of order, a new amendment will be considered by senators this week that claims the mammoth was "created on the sixth day along with the beasts of the field," Bryant said on Monday.
"I just had a notion that we ought to consider acknowledging the creator as we acknowledge one of his creations," Bryant said.
Elected officials received a letter by Olivia McConnell following the original measure.
"In it, she pointed out that there is no state fossil, said Democratic Representative Robert Ridgeway, who received the letter and sponsored the measure," Reuters reported. "McConnell suggested the elephant-like mammoth because an early find of its remains took place in 1725 on a South Carolina plantation where slaves dug up a tooth, Ridgeway said."
Although the mammoth's official designation doesn't intend to be held up by Bryant, he would appreciate a vote on his amendment and doesn't see any legal problems attached to it.
Reaction from some South Carolina residents has been "nasty," he said.
"Please stop making our state look like backwards hillbillies who believe in fairy tales," Alex Davis commented on Bryant's website. "Keep your religious views out of the government."
The controversy has surprised him, Ridgeway said.
"I was just trying to support a young child who is interested in science," he said. "We should support children in any endeavor that they seem interested in. That's one thing the state should be behind."
